Windfarm developer to appeal to Supreme Court

An order restricting operations on a windfarm in Cork has been stayed until June to allow the developer seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal’s findings it acted in “material” breach of planning permission.

A stay continues another order requiring dismantling of three wind turbines at the Kilvinane Wind Farm development due to not being built in accordance with a 2002 planning permission.

The dismantling stay applies until An Bord Pleanála rules on the May 2014 application by Kilvinane Wind Farm Ltd (KWL) for substituted consent for the turbines as constructed.

The board previously ruled in 2012 that the turbines as built were unauthorised development.

William Henry Bailey, a retired engineer who brought the case against KWF, indicated to the Court of Appeal yesterday that, if substituted consent is granted, judicial review may be sought to get clarity on the issue of substituted consent in planning law.

Substituted consent “is a remedy for innocent transgression of the planning laws and is not a remedy for those guilty of deliberate transgression”, he said.